Gensler
212-492-1400; www.gensler.com
Global design firm known for working with “big impact” materials like French limestone on vertical surfaces, hammered metals, dark wenge wood, satin-finished white metal, or back-painted glass. Usually works with entire firms; rates for an individual office can run $450 to $500 per square foot. Clients include Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Bain & Co., Hakuhodo DY Media Partners in Tokyo, and EFG-Hermes in Cairo.

Gwathmey Siegel & Associates
212-947-1240; www.gwathmey-siegel.com
Architecture firm’s interior designers specialize in maximizing natural light. Works with muted, neutral colors and natural materials, including cherry, anigre, mahogany, oak, and limestone. Fees follow the industry standard of a percentage of the construction costs, based on complexity of project, schedule, materials, and size (smaller projects command a higher percentage). Clients, usually corporations, include Morgan Stanley, Pepsi, Sony, McCann-Erickson, and EMI Records.

Skidmore Owens & Merrill
212-298-9300; www.som.com
Globe-spanning architecture and urban-design firm. Projects emphasize parallel lines and inventive uses of wood, such as tree-trunk seats and a wall screen composed of brightly colored abacus beads. Clients include J.P. Morgan Chase. Firm designed the Time Warner Center in New York and the Lever House office of real estate tycoon Aby Rosen, of RFR-Holding.

Lauren Rottet
713-221-1830; www.dmjmrottet.com
Interior architect and style-book author Rottet favors light-colored materials, especially white and gray-veined marble. Private-office clients include Paul Hastings L.L.P. and the Royal Bank of Scotland; corporate-office clients include Aecom Technology, Deloitte & Touche, First Interstate Bank, Marriott, Lucent Technologies, Intel, General Electric, and the World Bank.

Architecture Research Office
212-675-1870; www.aro.net
Interior-design and architectural-interior firm takes on projects in historic buildings and creates designs that blend with the preexisting look. Examples include using clapboard for a house on Martha’s Vineyard, inventing a camouflage motif for a military office, and working with blackened sheet metal for a firm in a 19th-century warehouse in New York’s Soho. Clients include Wolfensohn & Co., Princeton University, and Shiseido Cosmetics.

Peter Marino Architect
212-752-5444; www.petermarinoarchitect.com
New York-based architect most famous for retail design for luxury brands such as Christian Dior, Fendi, and Louis Vuitton. Executive-office clients include Datascope, Whittle Communications, Chanel New York and Chanel Tokyo. Uses mostly warm, cream colors and fabrics contrasted with black accents.

Michael S. Smith
310-315-3018; www.michaelsmithinc.com
Interior-design firm emphasizes personality: used nickel-silver flooring and English antiques to create James Bond feeling at a London financial firm. Has done offices for Peter Chernin, president and C.O.O. of News Corp. and chairman and C.E.O. of Fox Group, HBO chairman Chris Albrecht, Steven Spielberg, and Dreamworks C.E.O. Stacey Snider.

Pugh & Scarpa
310-828-0226; www.pughscarpa.com
Architecture firm favors unorthodox interior materials, such as Dixie cups and Ping-Pong balls, to create unusual environments. Has designed offices for Ernst & Young, Bedford Falls film company, Jennifer Lopez, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Danny DeVito.

Philip Nimmo & Co.
323-653-5654; www.philipnimmodesign.com
Nimmo emphasizes textures, such as in the wenge shelves, grass-cloth walls, and French-deco leather chairs for the recent design of a Las Vegas publisher’s Malibu offices. Clients are often executives and include former Warner Bros. and Dreamworks executive Michael Ostin and execs at OmniQuest Capital.